Photo from UNIAN
Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan says railway transportation market operators' losses after the introduction of a temporary restriction on freight transportation by one of the branches of state-owned joint-stock company Ukrzaliznytsia, or the Ukrainian Railways, in March due to the lack of electric locomotives have totaled at least $5 million.
"Concerning the situation in March this year, Odesa railways suspended work at least twice – freight traffic was halted because there was the lack of electric locomotives. Businesses suffered losses worth at least $5 million or more," Omelyan told Espreso.TV.
He claimed the growth of freight transportation by rail in January-February this year was due only to "a small number of transit applications from shippers and the fact that the grain was not taken out from elevators in 2016 and was transported only in January-February 2017."
Read alsoInfrastructure Minister insists on regaining control over Ukrainian Railways"First and foremost, this was the fault of Ukrzaliznytsia's management, which had not organized manufacture and repairs, as well as had not ensured the proper organization of traffic," the minister stressed.
It should be noted that freight carriers repeatedly complained about the systematic shortage of Ukrzaliznytsia railcars, which could lead to the disruption of terms under foreign contracts, and jeopardize the implementation of state export programs in general.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Minister Omelyan stressed that Ukrzaliznytsia CEO Wojciech Balczun's work from May 2016 to January 2017 caused damage to the Ukrainian economy worth UAH 50 billion, or $1.85 billion, due to the company's unsatisfactory performance. So, the minister also mentioned the failure of the company's reform, the suspension of corporatization, the loss in courts of a number of cases that made the company write off "billions" from its accounts, as well as the loss of part of transit shipments and insufficient implementation of a capital investment program.
Earlier, the press service of the American Chamber of Commerce announced the results of a survey among more than 600 member companies on Ukrzaliznytsia's performance in 2016. Over half of the said companies noted the deterioration of the situation with freight rail transportation last year and the company's inefficient fight against corruption.